Which make of the manifold and why?

[elan]

Sorry guys for asking som many questions for the past week But here is another one.

I would like to pair up my HP100s looks like the most economical value at this moment. Now I need the manifold and the bands. I was looking for some info but could not find much. Which manifold would you recommend to buy for HP tanks and what company.

Both my regs are 300DIN so I think I would get 300DIN manifold but what are the major differences between all those companies XS, Dive Rite, Thermo etc. I have XS HP100 tanks , I doubt it matters if it's XS manifold or not. So far I have found Dive Rite being more or less nice value and with the bands will run around US330 to put it on the road. The prices vary from US150 for OMS to 300 for a Thermo. What do Thermos give for that price difference ? I do not mind paying extra if it's worth it unless it's outrageously high.

Thanks a lot in advance you are always very helpful.

 

[Scared Silly]

I used Sea-Elite which is the same as Dive-Rite. Thermo is nice but more $. Having rebuilt both I personally do not see much of a difference. Not a fan of captured o-ring manifold made by OMS.

Shop around for bands. IIRC, TDL has some nice bands that run under $100 USD.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

With the exception of the OMS face seat style manifold, there is not much difference in isolator manifolds.

Dive Right, Sea Elite and Halcyon all look amazingly similar and for good reason when you consider they are essentially the same deisgn with only minor detail differences (raised ring around the burst disc plug, etc).

I prefer them to Thermo manfolds but it is mostly a preference for satin versus shiny chrome. They all work equally well and all (except OMS face seat manifolds) use a double o-ring barrel design that allows for a large degree of adjustability as well as a modular approach that allows you to separate the tank and plug the holes where the isolator atttached.

$300 is high for a manifold and $180-$200 is closer to the norm. I just sold a set of 7.25" bands on e-bay after they failed to sell here, so deals are out there.

 

[SparticleBrane]

The posters above have given you some good information -- let me echo the recommendation for the double-barrel o-ring seal (on probably 99% of manifolds today) rather than the OMS face-seal. Always better to have redundancy on something like that if possible!

Let me also recommend that you get a 200-bar manifold. There isn't any different in the 'strength' of the valve itself, and they come with little inserts (just like their single-tank versions) that allow you to convert them to yoke. While I don't like yoke manifolds for doubles, this might help you with tank fills in some areas if they don't see a lot of DIN connections. Also, those last few threads that are the difference between 200-bar and 300-bar valves seem to double the amount of time it takes to screw your regs in.



In terms of prices, $300 is ridiculous. It sounds like you're looking at TDL for Thermo stuff -- $334 for their mainfolds and $90 for their single-tank valves. Yowza.

DiveGearExpress has much better prices for Thermo products -- $50 for single tank valves and $200 for manifolds. They also have DiveRite valves and manifolds for $200, but at that price I would just get the Thermo.

Halcyon's latest manifold is pretty nice and supposedly has a different way one of the internal o-rings seals that helps with longevity but none of the other manifolds out there with the usual design seem to have issues so this might just be a talking point. $279 MSRP is high, although you can get a 'blemished' (cosmetic error but functionally fine) manifold here for $195.


As for the previously mentioned Sea-Elite manifold you can find that here for $144, which is a FANTASTIC price. I think they were $180 when I bought mine a year or two ago. Great manifold for cheap! If I had some extra money sitting around I'd pick up a few.

The Sea-Elite, Salvo, earlier Halcyon and one or two others are all the same design from the same company if my memory serves me right. I'm also under the impression that the Sea-Elite comes O2 clean (might want to call just to check if you care about that) and you should be able to get parts easily.

The Sea-Elite manifold also has the very nice Sherwood rubber handwheels -- very grippy.

 

[Rick Inman]

FYI, very limited, non-scientific test. A couple of days ago my buddy and I got into a discussion on valves and we went around turning knobs to test for ease of turning (Blue Steel, Dive X, OMS & Thermo) and every time the Thermo valves were the easier to manipulate.

 

[SparticleBrane]

FYI, very limited, non-scientific test. A couple of days ago my buddy and I got into a discussion on valves and we went around turning knobs to test for ease of turning (Blue Steel, Dive X, OMS & Thermo) and every time the Thermo valves were the easier to manipulate.

How recently had they been reworked? Over time they can get pretty gunked up. Cleaning them and redoing the valves can make most of them as smooth as silk.

However I have noticed that Thermo valves and the Sea-Elite valves are usually pretty smooth.

 

[Rick Inman]

How recently had they been reworked?

I rebuild the valves when I O2 clean, so everything is within a year or two.

 

[deepstops]

OMS makes both the unpopular face-seat style and the more popular barrel style manifold:
OMS SCUBA Valves & Manifolds http://www.OMSdive.com

Personally, I buy Sea Elite manifolds when I buy new because you can get them for under $150 on Ebay from Divers Supply. And they work as good as anything out there.

 

[elan]

Thanks guys I have also found Thermo for $200 at DiveGear express. I believe it was TDL where I have seen the Thermo price that high.

I was shopping for the bands on eBay. Some of them who has good proce around 90 do not ship to Canada Looks like DiveGearExpress has nice shipping option for us Canadians

So I think I will go with dive gear express. Thanks a lot guys You are always helpful.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Hope you enjoy it! They make good stuff.